Literary Terms #1 Flashcards
Absurdity
he use of absurdity in literature is a vehicle for writers to explore those elements in the world that do not make sense. It examines questions of meaning and life, and writers often use absurd themes, characters, or situations to question whether meaning or structure exists at all.
EX: Alice in Wonderland
Anaphora
the literary device in which a phrase is repeated at the beginning of the following clauses or sentences
EX: Every single day you let me down. Every single day you make me mad. Every single day you do such silly things!
Aside
It is a short comment or speech that a character delivers directly to the audience or to himself, while other actors on the stage cannot listen. Only the audience can realize that an actor has expressed speech for them (shorter than a soliloquy)
Caricature
a device used in descriptive writing and visual arts where particular aspects of a subject are exaggerated to create a silly or comic effect
EX: “Mr. Chadband is a large yellow man, with a fat smile, and a general appearance of having a good deal of train oil in his system. Mrs. Chadband is a stern, severe-looking, silent woman. Mr. Chadband moves softly and cumbrously, not unlike a bear who has been taught to walk upright. He is very much embarrassed about the arms, as if they were inconvenient to him.”
Colloquial
In literature, colloquialism is the use of informal words, phrases or even slang in a piece of writing.
EX: “I didn’t want to go back no more. I had stopped cussing, because the widow didn’t like it; but now I took to it again because pap hadn’t no objections”
Denotation
dictionary definition
Elegy
a poem or song in the form of elegiac couplets, written in honor of someone deceased EX: “With the farming of a verse Make a vineyard of the curse, Sing of human unsuccess In a rapture of distress; In the deserts of the heart Let the healing fountain start, In the prison of his days Teach the free man how to praise.”
Euphony
the use of words and phrases that are distinguished as having a wide range of noteworthy melody or loveliness in the sounds they create.
Foot
The literary device “foot” is a measuring unit in poetry, which is made up of stressed and unstressed syllables. The stressed syllable is generally indicated by a vertical line (Ꞌ), whereas the unstressed syllable is represented by a cross (x)
EX: If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall;
O, it came o’er my ear like the sweet sound.
Iambic Pentameter
So iambic pentameter is a kind of rhythmic pattern that consists of five iambs per line, almost like five heartbeats: daDUM daDUM daDUM daDUM daDUM.
EX: If music be the food of love, play on.
Logos
Logos is a literary device that can be defined as a statement, sentence or argument used to convince or persuade the targeted audience by employing reason or logic.
EX: All men are mortal.
Socrates is a man.
Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
Mood
Usually, mood is referred to as the atmosphere of a literary piece, as it creates an emotional situation that surrounds the readers.
Ode
Ode is a literary technique that is lyrical in nature, but not very lengthy. You have often read odes in which poets praise people, natural scenes, and abstract ideas. t is highly solemn and serious in its tone and subject matter, and usually is used with elaborate patterns of stanzas. However, the tone is often formal.
EX: There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;–
Pathetic Fallacy
a literary device that attributes human qualities and emotions to inanimate objects of nature
EX: “I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,”
Protagonist
A protagonist is the central character or leading figure in poetry, narrative, novel or any other story. A protagonist is sometimes called a “hero” by the audience or readers.
